No one has yet claimed responsibility for the recent cyberattacks at leading French supermarkets, but they should serve as a wakeup call for the entire food industry, says threat intelligence nonprofit Food and Ag-ISAC.
“[This is] going to be a pretty eye-opening event to a lot of food companies to look at their own processes and risk right now,” says director Jonathan Braley.
Possible methods of attack are legion, and neatly outlined in Food and Ag-ISAC’s latest State of the Threat Report. Of all those methods, ransomware is arguably the biggest concern at the moment.
This year is on track to be “one of the highest-volume ransomware years on record.”
According to the report, food and agriculture is the eighth-most targeted sector for ransomware, representing 5% of all attacks. Through July, the food and agriculture sector accounted for 227 ransomware incidents, a 62% increase from the 140 attacks recorded during the same period in 2025.
It remains, “the most consistent and costly threat facing the food and agriculture sector.”
That said, Braley stresses that food and ag companies are not disproportionately targeted more than other sectors right now. Overall attacks across sectors remain “largely opportunistic”—that is, mostly automated and not targeted to any one industry.
Most ransomware campaigns scan for exposed systems and rely on phishing or social engineering tactics to compromise the first vulnerable organization that surfaces, he adds.
“They’re going to target it without really caring what company is behind [the vulnerability]. The same top groups hitting other sectors are hitting food and ag.”
Who is vulnerable?
The short answer: everybody.
Historically, many agrifood operations simply assumed they were too small to be a ransomware target. Ten years ago, that may have been true, since many systems and equipment setups were offline.
Now, says Braley, everything is connected: self-driving tractors on in the field, smart sensors on grocery store refrigerators, cloud-based climate control for swine farms. The list goes on. All of this interconnectedness means food and ag businesses, regardless of size, “face the same challenges any other sector would” when it comes to cyber vulnerabilities.
And while they don’t yet appear to be singled out by attackers, food and ag businesses are unique in that most of them are on the small side and many of them revolve around “just-in-time” deliveries of perishable goods.
“We’re talking about not only the financial impacts and reputational impacts, but also the health and safety of people if they can’t get the products they need.”
He adds: “All it takes is one vulnerability in your system. Food companies generally don’t have the resources or the staff to be aware that this vulnerability is there. And with the addition of all this new technology onto farms, every time you put a new device on your field, it’s also a device that you have to watch for a vulnerability and patch it.”
What food and ag businesses can do
No food or ag business is immune to a ransomeware attack these days, whether they’re a major supermarket chain or a local poultry farm. But no entity is totally helpless, either.
Braley says one of the most effective tools is to simply enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on everything related to the business: email, financial platforms, cloud applications, inventory and logistics systems, and remote access.
Citing a recent Microsoft report, the Food and Ag-ISAC says MFA “reduces the risk of identity compromise by more than 99%.” The organization also suggests investing in “phishing-resistant” MFA options like FIDO2 security keys and properly implemented passkeys.
Patch management—deploying vendor-issued software updates to fix vulnerabilities and kill bugs—is also important for businesses to prioritize, says Braley.
Basic precautions, such as changing the default password on a new sensor or device, is crucial, as is building more awareness among employees.
“Your employees are typically your weakest link,” says Braley, who suggests training programs that can help workers better understand phishing campaigns and other attack methods.
Even very small businesses can be proactive, he suggests, regardless of whether they have time, staff, and understanding to tackle cybersecurity.
“There are managed service providers out there that are not expensive and have gotten even cheaper over the years. You can literally hire a company to audit all of your software, make sure things are up to date, and watch your network traffic.
“For a small organization, it’s not a huge lift, and it’s something they should start considering now.”
